The verb means to carry or bring together, to collect or gather. It was used of harvesting crops, gathering possessions, or carrying the dead to burial. The middle voice often meant gathering to oneself. When Stephen was stoned, 'devout men carried him to burial,' using this verb to describe the reverent gathering up and burial of the first martyr. The term appears in agricultural contexts of gathering harvest, making its use for gathering Stephen's body poignant—the faithful harvest their martyred brother for honorable burial despite the danger.